Vision Redbridge Culture & Leisure stands in solidarity with our Black communities, colleagues and volunteers, customers, artists and audiences in support of the #BlackLivesMatter movement.
Our facilities are a safe place where all our communities can come together to learn, create and thrive. We aim to contribute to this movement through inclusion, education and continued learning.
Explore our resources for anti-racism including literature that celebrate diversity and inclusion, lived experience through film and the powerful storytelling of black authors and the heritage of Redbridge’s local communities.
Literature
For children, teens and adults
Virtual Library: Our curated collection of #eBooks and #eAudiobooks by popular BAME authors, including Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Malorie Blackman, Jackie Kay, Toni Morrison, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Zadie Smith, Benjamin Zephaniah is now live on OverDrive.
This is Book Love: In schools, libraries, galleries, on screens and even on our high streets – the stark lack of culturally inclusive representation is sadly too obvious. This is Book Love is an award winning collective of educators, artists, musicians, creatives, aunties, uncles, parents and grandparents working together to make multicultural matter and address the stark lack of culturally inclusive representation.
Padlet of Resources: Created by Cooke, N.A. (2020, May 30) Anti-Racism Resources for All Ages (A project of the Augusta Baker Endowed Chair at the University of South Carolina)
For children and teens
Book Trust: Suggested top books that examine the structural oppression experienced by the Black community, aimed at inspiring and empowering young children to talk about anti-racism. This searchable site also offers reading tips and book recommendations for children of all ages, from babies to teenagers.
Kids Books About Race That Celebrate Diversity and Inclusion: Some kids’ books handle subjects like race and equality with grace, offering a perfect starting point for mums and dads. Take a look for reading recommendations that celebrate diversity, acceptance and love.
‘No reader is too young to start’: anti-racist books for all children and teens: It’s never too early to learn that racism is wrong and we should be doing something about it. These books selected by publisher and bookseller Aimée Felone will help us show our kids how.
OverDrive: Diverse Voices for Children
You will need your library card number to log in and borrow books.
For teens and adults
A black girl’s reading list: 10 books to inspire and challenge: In July 2019, authors Chelsea Kwakye and Ore Ogunbiyi listed the books that gave them ‘permission to dream’
Black Lives Matter – what Holocaust Memorial Day Trust staff have been reading: In a new piece for our website, HMDT staff share books and articles by black and mixed-race voices that they have been reading.
32 New Novels by Black Authors to Read Now: Goodreads has rounded up a list of new fiction published across a range of genres from Black writers.
Books by Black British Authors to Read in 2020: Goodreads list of books written by Black British Authors to read in 2020.
Overdrive: Diverse voices for Young Adults: The selection of books on the App has been updated with newly-purchased titles. You will need your library card number to log in and borrow books.
For adults
Do the work: an anti-racist reading list: What will happen after this news cycle is over and social media posts about diversity die down? Author Layla F Saad chooses books to fortify a long-term struggle.
An Anti-Racist Reading List: 20 Highly Rated Nonfiction Books by Black Authors: There are many ways to take action against racism. Reading in order to learn more about oppression and how to oppose it is just one of those ways. Checkout this list of highly rated non fiction reads.
Pen to Print: During lockdown, local writing project Pen to Print’s magazine Write On! has been publishing daily as an online magazine. Each week features a different theme. Here are some editions focusing on BAME voices and the Black Lives Matter movement: Hear BAME Voices and Black Lives Matter or All lives matter?
Film
Selected documentaries from Kanopy
P.S. I can’t breathe: This documentary welcomes dialogue around racial inequality, policing, and the Criminal Justice System by focusing on Eric Garners case. We hope viewers will increase their understanding of issues plaguing Black and Brown Communities by witnessing a massive group of protesters unite for the purpose of justice.
Show me democracy: Amidst the uprising in Ferguson, MO, seven St. Louis college students evolve into activists as they demand change through policy and protest. This film examines their personal lives and backgrounds as each of them copes with the fallout of Ferguson.
American Denial: American Denial uses ‘the Myrdal question’ to probe and expose the power of denial and unconscious bias in what some have called a ‘post-racial’ America.
Heritage
Exhibitions
Redbridge Museum’s permanent exhibition features ‘A Family Story’, a display about the experiences of Gloria Byer who came from Barbados to Britain in 1956 as part of the ‘Windrush generation’. After settling in Seven Kings in 1959, Gloria’s husband, Lester, worked at Ford’s car factory in Dagenham while Gloria worked as a seamstress. To find out about Redbridge Museum visit the museum page.
The Museum’s temporary displays and social media posts continue to highlight varied aspects of local history including Derek B from Woodford who was Britain’s first Rap superstar in the 1990s, local contributions to Carnival and, more tragically, Redbridge’s connections to the British transatlantic slave trade. To find more details visit our archive.
Oral history
Redbridge Museum & Heritage Centre has worked with local people to record a number of oral histories about their journey from the Caribbean to Redbridge. In 2018 as part of a project to celebrate the centenary of the right of (some) women to vote, the Museum interviewed two local nurses, Vida Pritchett who moved from St Kitts in 1956 and Dolores Ramlal from Trinidad and Tobago in 1971. Find out more details on Snapping The Stiletto website. Interviews from other Museum projects include those who moved from Barbados and Guyana in the 1950s and these can be accessed on request from the Museum & Heritage Centre.
Schools
Throughout the year the Museum & Heritage Centre offers taught education sessions for local schools about Black history, including the vital contribution made by African and Caribbean people during the Second World War. Download the Redbridge Museum Schools Programme (PDF 2.1MB)
Research
Redbridge Heritage Centre holds local newspapers and other resources to research the experiences of local Black communities and family history.
Every October, Redbridge Libraries host a range of events taking part in the national celebration of Black History Month.